Every serious city has a motto. Chicago has "Urbs in Horto" (City in a Garden), signifying its commitment to greenery, plus its historical roots as a wild onion patch. (It also has "I Will," which sounds strangely like a commitment to procrastination.) Baltimore has "The City That Reads" along with "Believe" (making me wonder whether I can do the latter about the former). But a quick call to the Oak Park village manager's office revealed our town has no motto. "You're certainly welcome to suggest one," offered Johan Walsh, secretary to the village manager. OK, I will. How about "WWFPD?" That's "What Would Forest Park Do?"

The New Leadership Coalition (NLC) was not surprised to see yet another poorly considered and factually inaccurate letter to the editor from the Village Manager Association (VMA). The VMA's most recent nasty-gram (a practice the editor of at least one paper has chastised the group for in the past), sneers that the village board is anti-business and anti-development. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I'm sure Daniel Burnham was thinking of Oak Park when he encouraged us to "make no little plans." Oak Park is not that big and we are trying to do a lot of different things with it. It is critical then, that we avoid a narrow, short-term focus and think of the entire community over the long-term.

I used to think people were getting dumber. At any rate, more people seem to be doing dumb things-like opening car doors wide into traffic and stepping out into the street like they had the right of way, having become pedestrians once their feet hit the pavement. Maybe our survival instincts are just getting dull. Or maybe we're suffering from a yet-to-be-identified malady of modern living I'll call "consciousness shrinkage." It's not brains we lack, it's awareness.

Though I'm happy to credit the Scoville Park flower beds for the increased visibility of the monarch butterfly [M as in Monarch, Inside Report, Aug. 2], they've actually been spending their summers in this area at least for the 49 years I've been raising them hereabouts.

To the leadership and citizens of Oak Park: Recently, I had the privilege to visit your village again, this time during Gay Games VII. I was not lucky enough to have my events hosted by your community. I was, however, blessed with the opportunity to experience your hospitality as I watched friends compete in the soccer matches.